Ford, REPREVE to Recycle 2 Million Plastic Bottles Back into the New 2012 Focus Electric and Other Vehicles

Ford announced that through the use of REPREVE, the company plans to divert about 2 million post-consumer plastic bottles from landfills for use in new vehicles beginning with the 2012 Focus Electric – the first vehicle to feature branded REPREVE’s seat fabric made from a hybrid blend of recycled plastic bottles and post-consumer waste.

Taking it one step further, Ford and Unifi, the makers of REPREVE, will help collect some of the bottles destined for Ford vehicles by recycling plastic bottles from the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) taking place in Detroit on Jan. 9-10 and the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Jan. 10-13.

The companies will collect bottles at events throughout the year, beginning with the North American International Auto Show and Consumer Electronics Show, that will be recycled back into REPREVE recycled fibers:

· Focus Electric is the first vehicle with interior materials made of 100 percent clean technology, including the use of REPREVE recycled fibers; seating in each vehicle interior uses roughly 22 recycled plastic bottles
· Recycling effort is under way to raise awareness that only 29 percent of plastic bottles are recycled in the United States – nearly half the rate as in Europe

“Ford is committed to delivering vehicles with leading fuel efficiency while targeting at least 25 percent clean technology in interior materials across our lineup,” says Carol Kordich, lead designer of Sustainable Materials for Ford. “The Focus Electric highlights this commitment as Ford’s first gas-free vehicle, and the first in the automotive industry to use branded REPREVE.”
“After decades of education, the United States PET bottle recycling rate is only at 29 percent, about half the rate of Europe,” said Roger Berrier, president and COO of Unifi Inc. (NYSE: UFI). “We hope this recycling initiative with Ford will help raise visibility around the importance of recycling with a goal to drive recycling rates to 100 percent, diverting millions of plastic bottles from entering the waste stream and potentially back into REPREVE-branded fibers.”

Quality on the inside
Using REPREVE also reduces energy consumption by offsetting the need to use newly refined crude oil for production. The technology meets all Ford design and comfort requirements to help ensure the Focus Electric and other vehicles meet the company’s high performance standards.

“We aimed to make the Focus Electric the most overall sustainable vehicle available to consumers, from using clean technology to overall vehicle efficiency,” said Kordich.

The Focus Electric, Ford’s first all-electric passenger car, started production in December 2011 at Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich. When full production is under way in March, the car’s seat fabric could contain plastic bottles collected at NAIAS or CES.

Eco-conscious solutions
Ford’s “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” commitment is part of the company’s broader global sustainability strategy to reduce its environmental footprint while at the same time accelerating the development of advanced, fuel-efficient vehicle technologies around the world.

Currently Ford vehicles are approximately 90 percent recyclable at end of life. By using recycled content in its vehicles and ensuring its parts are recyclable, Ford is leading the industry in recycling efforts. Ford’s goal is to have its vehicles be 100 percent recyclable.

In 2009, Ford mandated that fabric suppliers use a minimum of 25 percent recycled content for all 2009 and beyond model year vehicles. Since then, 37 different fabrics meeting the requirements have been developed and incorporated into Ford vehicles.

Examples include soy foam seat cushions and head restraints, wheat straw-filled plastic, castor oil foam in instrument panels, recycled resins for underbody systems, recycled yarns on seat covers and natural-fiber plastic for interior components.

Source: Ford Motor Company